Matchbox Twenty: Heckled in S.A.?

Matchbox Twenty, shown at a show last fall in London, returns to the Majestic Theatre tonight. (Getty Images)

Matchbox Twenty’s 1996 debut album, “Yourself or Someone Like You,” sold 15 million copies worldwide and spun off five hit singles, three of which cracked the Top 10. They followed up with two more multiplatinum albums; by the end of the decade, they were one of the biggest bands in the land.

It’s hard to imagine anyone shouting at them, “You suck! Get off the stage!”

But that’s exactly what happened in April 1997 at the Freeman Coliseum, where Rob Thomas and Co. were second-billed behind No Doubt. The band, which plays the Majestic Theatre tonight, was the victim of two things — bad timing and an unwise decision by Thomas.

The Gwen Stefani-led No Doubt has since faded away, but in the spring of 1997 her band was king of the world, thanks to the ska-rockin’ “Tragic Kingdom” album and its big Top 40 ballad hit, “Don’t Speak.” Matchbox Twenty, meanwhile, had scored only one hit — “Long Day” — which had made an impact on rock radio but not the Top 40. The band had made its San Antonio debut two months earlier in front of a small but enthusiastic crowd at a free show at the Hard Rock Cafe, but apparently most of those folks didn’t make it to the Freeman show.

Most folks, including lots of young girls, were there to see No Doubt. And thanks to “Don’t Speak,” there were a LOT of young girls. My daughter Amanda, my assistant for the night (I covered the show for the Express-News), was 13 and a big fan. The girl in front of us was 11.

That meant that Matchbox Twenty, just months before it became the hottest band in the country, easily the equal to No Doubt in terms of sales and airplay, was just another opening act fans had to endure.

A knot of hecklers in front of the stage began giving them a hard time almost from the moment they took the stage. Thomas kept up a running dialogue with them for most of their 45-minute set before finally making a big mistake — he gave one of the guys his mike and told him to “say something clever.”

It doesn’t take an Einstein to predict what happened next. And Thomas did exactly what the heckler suggested — he got off the stage. He finally reappeared after guitarist Adam Gaynor exhorted the crowd to cheer for his return.

Asked in a 2001 interview with the Express-News’ Hector Saldana if he remembered the incident, he said, “Oh, man, yeah.” He said one of the culprits was actually a fan of the opening act, the happy-punk band the Vandals.

“One of the Vandals’ fans had said something like, ‘Your drummer’s a dyke.’ I was like, ‘This isn’t going to go good. This is going to be so bad.”

He recalled that promoter Jack Orbin gave him a pep talk backstage after he had walked off. He also admitted he was a bit, uh, hypersensitive back then. “We were so green. Now we’ve gotten really comfortable in our skin. We’re just like, ‘(bleep), we think we’re a good band.”

It wasn’t long after the Freeman show that fans showed they agreed. By the end of the year, it was unthinkable that anyone would be in a hurry for Matchbox Twenty to get the hell off the stage. The next time they played San Antonio, eight months later and right after Christmas, they sold out the Majestic. In September 1998, they sold out Sunken Garden. The 2001 interview was a preview of another packed show at the Verizon.

Tonight’s show will be their first in San Antonio since 2003, when they played the SBC (now AT&T) Center. Chances are if Thomas hands his mike to a fan, he’ll like what he hears.